Filling head



May19,1959 r H. BREEBACK 2,387,133

' FILLING HEAD Filed Feb. 18, 1957 e p wh EMMA/J, V904? 7 MW) Anomqmrs.

United States Patent FILLING HEAD Rudolph H. Breehack, Baltimore, Md., assignor to Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc., Baltimore, Md., a corporation of New York Application February 18, 1957, Serial No. 640,834

Claims. (Cl. 141-44) The present invention relates to filling heads and, more particularly, to filling heads used on filling machines for filling containers with carbonated beverages such as beer, soft drinks, or the like.

A particular problem in the filling of containers with carbonated liquids is the obtaining of an optimum flow of liquid without producing foam in the container. Today bottlers are striving for greater output from filling machines by increasing the velocity of liquid flowing into the container. However, under certain conditions the increasing of the velocity of fiow of liquid is undesirable as it produces foam in the container. It has been heretofore proposed to increase the output per minute of filled containers from a filling machine by increas' ing the volume of flow of liquid without materially increasing its velocity of flow. Such a filling machine incorporating a filling head where volume of flow is increased without materially increasing rate or velocity of flow is disclosed in my copending United States application, Serial No. 576,891, filed April 9, 1956. By providing a relatively large liquid conduit leading from the filling machine reservoir to the filling head and its filling valve and then branching the conduit into a plurality of smaller conduits terminating in a plurality of outlet ports, a greater volume of liquid can be flowed to the container without materially increasing its ve locity and, hence, eliminating the problem of foaming. The present application is an improvement of the filling head disclosed in my aforementioned copending ap' plication, Serial No. 576,891 and provides for means to stop the liquid flow when the head space pressure in the container builds up by reason of filling the container with liquid and, further, the preventing of loss of prime from the filling head when the liquid valve is closed and the container is removed from sealing engagement with the filling head.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a filling head of such design that when the head space pressure reaches a predetermined point during filling, the interchange of liquid in the liquid passage with gas in the container head space cannot occur and, hence, further flow in the liquid passage will cease.

Heretofore it has been proposed to provide foraminous elements in the liquid passage of a filling head adjacent the filling valve, to cause stoppage of the flow of liquid when a predetermined pressure has been reached in the head space of a container being filled. The foraminous elements have been positioned in the liquid passage either immediately above or immediately below the valve. It has also been proposed to design the size of the valve passage in the liquid flow passage so that when the head space pressure builds up in the container to a predetermined amount, further flow of liquid into the container will be stopped. Such proposed structures did not contemplate the loss of the prime in the liquid passage from the filling valve to the passage outlet when the liquid valve was closed and the container was removed from sealing engagement with the filling head.

M I ce and would drop either into the container as it was being lowered or onto the platform prior to the positioning of an empty container thereon.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a filling head with means which not only stops the flow of liquid into the container when the liquid valve is open and the pressure of the gas in the head space of the container has reached a predetermined point, but a means which also will prevent liquid from dripping from the filling head after a container has been removed from sealing engagement therewith. In other words, the filling head is so designed that the prime in the liquid passages is effectively retained therein, thus, aiding in the control of the height of fill and reduction of foam usually caused by the initiation of liquid flow.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a filling head with means to give additional surface tension to the liquid suspended in the liquid passages after a container has been filled and removed from engagement with the filling head.

These and other objects of the present invention will appear more fully in the following specification, claims and drawing, in which:

Figure l discloses a filling head of the present invention, illustrating the filling valve in the liquid flow position, the filling head being shown attached to a filling Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of the adapter shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the tip for the adapter of the nozzle shown in Figure 2. t

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the tip shown in Figure 5, and

Figure 7 is a detail view of the screen for the nozzle shown in Figure 2.

Referring now to the drawing and in particular to Figure 1, the filling head of the present invention includes a body element 10 having a flange portion 12 adapted to be secured to the periphery of a reservoircarrying superstructure 14 of the filling machine, generally designated 16. The body element 10 is secured to the'superstructure 14 in any suitable manner or in a manner such as described in my United States Patent No. ,701,675, dated February 8, 1955. Filling machine 16 includes a reservoir 18 for a body of carbonated liquid and a superposed body of gas, a container supporting platform 20 and a rotary table (not shown) for carrying a plurality of the platforms 20 and the superstructure 14. The carbonated liquid may be beer or any of the various carbonated soft drinks While the gas is usually carbon dioxide gas under pressure. When the filling machine 10 is used for beer, the gas pressure is usually maintained at 10 to 12 /2 pounds per square inch, and when it is used for carbonated soft drinks, the gas pressure is somewhat higher. The rotary filling machine may be of the type disclosed in my aforementioned copending application, Serial No. 576,891, the filling machine having the same or a similar filling cycle.

a Body element 10 is provided with a circular recessed face22 which receives a gasket 24, the outer surface of which provides a valve seat face 25 for a rotary disk valve 26. Rotary disk valve 26 is carried on a horizon tally extending shaft 28 and is adapted to be rotated on" a v horizontal radially extending axis to align the liquid enemas and gas passages of the filling head, as will be described I in more detail later in the specification.

A downwardly depending portion 30 of body element is provided with a substantially horizontal face 32 having an annular gasket 34 for engaging the lip of a container C, such as a can, and sealing with the same when the container is moved vertically upwardly by the platform into engagement therewith. The downwardly depending portion 30 may be a separate unit and attached to the body element 10 by means of a ring nut 36 or it may be made integral with the body element.

In accordance with the usual practice, the superstructure14 of the filling machine 16 is provided with a vertically extending flange 38 to which the filling head 10 is attached by means of a mounting plate 40. Extending through the flange 38 from the liquid containing portion of reservoir 18 is a relatively large liquid conduit 42 which communicates with one end of a liquid passage 44 in body element 10. The end of passage 44 opens tovthe seat face of body element 10. A gas conduit or passage 46, extending from the gas containing portion of reservoir 18 to the mounting plate 40, communicates with one end of a gas passage 48 in the mounting plate. The other end of gas passage 48 communicates with a gas passage 50 in body element 10 that opens to the planar seat face 25.

Body element 10 is provided with a second liquid passage 52 open at one end to the planar seat face 25 of gasket 22. Passage 52 branches into a plurality of liquid conduits 54, the conduits 54 extending downwardly through the lower portion of body element 10 and terminating in outlet ports for liquid positioned about the periphery of the horizontal face 32. A second gas passage 55 extends from the seat face 25 downwardly through the body element 10, terminating centrally of the face 32, as indicated at 57. A ball float valve 59, carried by the cage 60 is adapted to close the outlet 57 of gas passage 55 upon rise of liquid in the container to a predetermined level.

Rotary disk valve 26 has a U-shaped gas passage 56, as well as a U-shaped liquid passage 58. The gas passage 56 is adapted to communicate with the gas passages 50 and 55 so that the container may be placed in communication with the gas containing portion of reservoir 18. Liquid passage 58 in the valve 26 is adapted to communicate with the liquid passages 44 and 52 respectively so as to place the liquid containing portion of reservoir 18 in communication with a container.

In filling containers with carbonated liquids, it is the usual practice to first establish a counterpressure in the container, the counterpressure being substantially equal to the pressure of the gas in the reservoir 18. This is usually accomplished by moving the disk valve 26 to a position where the gas passages in the filling head are placed in communication with the gas containing portion of the reservoir 18 while the liquid passages in the filling head remain closed. After counterpressure gas has been established in the container at an amount of about pound per square inch less than the gas pressure in the reservoir 18, the disk valve 26 is further rotated on its horizontal axis to a position such as shown in Figure 1, Where the liquid passages are opened so as to place a container in communication with the liquid containing portion of reservoir 18. Simultaneously with the aligning of the liquid passages 44 and 52 by the liquid passage 58 in disk valve 26 is the alignment of the gas passage 56 with the gas passages 50 and 55 in body element 10. This permits the counterpressure gas previously established in the container to vent therefrom as liquid flows into the container. When the level of liquid reaches a predetermined height it will raise the ball float valve 59 to a position where it closes of]? escape of gas from the container through the gas vent passages. The pressure of head space gas within the container builds up to a point whereit stops the flow of liquid. The disk valve 26 is then moved to the closed position and the container is lowered by the platform 20 away from the filling head 10 and transferred from the filling machine to suitable container closing mechanism.

In the present invention each of the liquid conduits 54 is provided at its lower end with a removable liquid nozzle 62. The nozzle 62, as best shown in Figures 2 to 7 inclusive, is provided with an adapter portion 64 having threads 66 thereon for cooperating with threads provided in the ends of the conduits 54. The adapter 64 is provided with an enlarged portion 68 which is hexagonal in shape so that a wrench can be used to easily insert or remove the nozzle from the conduits 54. The lower end of the nozzle 62 is provided with a tip element 70 which retains a screen element 72 Within the bore 74 of the nozzle. The tip element 70 is provided with an enlarged bore 76 and a reduced bore 78 of the same diameter as the bore 74 in the adapter portion 64. The screen element 72 has a diameter substantially equal to the outside diameter of the adapter portion 64 and is adapted to fit within the enlarged bore 76 of the tip portion 70. When the screen is in place, the tip element or portion 70 is permanently soldered to the adapter portion 64, as shown at 80.

Referring now to Figure 7, the screen element 72 is made from 24 gauge wire mesh, the wire having a diameter of .0140 of an inch. Usually it is desirable to tin the screen to prevent corrosive action by the carbonated liquids flowing therethrough. As mentioned above, by having a plurality of conduits 54 leading from a larger conduit 52 the volume of flow of liquid can be increased without increasing the velocity of flow. Consequently, the diameter of the conduits 54, as Well as the bore of the nozzle 62, is only in the order of .187 of an inch. By providing the wire screen 72 in the nozzle 62 the effective diameter of the nozzle is reduced only to .180 of an inch as the area of the wires of the screen subtract very little from the total flow orifice. It is to be understood that the above dimensions are for the purpose of illustration of a filling head having a plurality of outlets for a carbonated liquid. It is of course within the scope of the invention that the dimensions of the conduits 54, the bore 74 and the wire screen 72 could be changed so long as they give the desired end results. The viscosity of the carbonated liquid determines the mesh of the screen to be used with a specific diameter flow orifice of the outlet nozzle.

By providing a screen in the outlet tips of the liquid flow conduits, the diameter of the liquid flow conduits may be slightly increased so that a greater volume of liquid can be flowed into the container at a relatively slow rate of flow. The screen 72 at the outlet tip pro vides sufiicient surface tension, coupled with the capillarity of the conduits 54, so as to prevent gas and liquid exchange when the disk valve 26 is moved to the liquid flow position and the liquid has reached a level to close oil the vent 55. The pressure builds up in the head space of the container to a point where liquid flow is stopped at the screen 72. Additionally, the screen 72, because of its surface tension, coupled with the capillarity of the conduits 54, will retain the prime in the conduits 54 and liquid passage 52 when the disk valve 26 is moved to the closed position. The container may be removed from the filling head, without the disadvantage of the prime dripping into the container or onto the container platform once the container has been removed.

The terminology used in this specification is for the purpose of description and not limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. In a filling head for filling containers with carbonated liquids, a body element having a portion adapted to be secured to a reservoir for a body of the liquid and a supen posed body of gas and a portion adapted for sealing engagement with a container, said body element having a okay liquid passage therethrough terminating in a plurality of separate liquid passages each having an outlet port in the container engaging portion thereof, said liquid passage being adapted to connect the liquid containing portion of the reservoir with the container, said body element in cluding at least one gas passage extending therethrough and adapted to connect the gas containing portion of the reservoir with the container, valve means carried by said body element and cooperating with said gas and liquid passages therein, said valve means being operable to open said gas and liquid passages in a sequence to first establish a counter pressure in the container and then liquid flow, and means positioned in each of said plurality of separate liquid passages immediately adjacent the respective outlet port to prevent exchange of liquid and gas in a container containing fluid at a predetermined pressure when said valve means is operable to liquid flow position, said last-mentioned means also maintaining a prime of liquid in said liquid passage between said valve means and said plurality of outlet ports when said valve means is operable to a closed position and the container is removed from sealing engagement with the container engaging portion of said body element.

2. A filling head of the character described in claim 1, wherein said last-mentioned means is a screen element positioned in each of the plurality of outlet ports.

3. A filling head of the character described in claim 2, wherein said screen element is made from approximately 24 wire mesh screen.

4. A filling head of the character described in claim 2, wherein each of said outlet ports has a diameter in the order of .187 of an inch and wherein said last-mentioned means is a screen element made from approximately 24 wire mesh screen.

5. A filling head of the character described in claim 2, wherein each of said outlet ports has a diameter in the order of .187 of an inch and wherein said last-mentioned means is a screen element provided in each of said plurality of outlet ports, said screen elements providing each of said outlet ports with an efiective diameter in the order of .180 of an inch.

6. in a filling head for filling containers with carbonated liquids, a body element having a portion adapted to be secured to a reservoir for a body of liquid and a superposed body of gas and a portion depending downwardly therefrom and having a substantially horizontal face adapted for sealing engagement with a container, said body element including a liquid passage therethrough, said liquid passage including at least one liquid conduit branching into a plurality of liquid conduits having their outlet ends terminating in said horizontal face, said liquid passage being adapted to connect the liquid containing portion of the reservoir with the container, said body element also including at least one gas passage extending therethrough and adapted to connect the gas containing portion of the reservoir with the container, valve means cooperating with said gas and liquid passages and operable to open the same in a sequence to establish first a counter pressure in the container and then liquid flow to the container, and a nozzle provided in the outlet end of each of said plurality of liquid conduits, each nozzle having a scr en element positioned immediately adjacent its outlet tip to prevent exchange of liquid and gas in a container containing fluid at a predetermined pressure when said valve means is operable to liquid flow position and also to maintaining a prime of liquid in said liquid passage between said valve means and said nozzles when said valve means is operable to a closed position and the container is removed from sealing engagement with the horizontal face of said body element.

7. A filling head of the character described in claim 6, wherein each of said nozzles has an inside diameter in the order of .187 of an inch.

8. A filling head of the character described in claim 6, wherein each of said screen elements is made from a 24 wire mesh screen and said screen elements providing an efiective diameter in said nozzle of approximately .180 of an inch. 7

9. A filling head of the character described in claim 6, wherein each nozzle is threaded into the outlet end of each of said plurality of liquid conduits and may be removed for cleaning.

10. A filling head of the character described in claim 6, including float means adapted to close said gas passage upon rise of liquid in the container to a predetermined level.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,408,397 Ragsdale Feb. 28, 1922 2,187,332 Sinz Jan. 16, 1940 2,367,899 Stewart Ian. 23, 1945 2,467,684 Meyer et al. Apr. 19, 1949 2,597,943 Meyer May 27, 1952 

